Ο Ψυχάρης και η εποχή του [Psycharis and his era]

This volume comprises papers presented at the 11th International Conference of the Department of Medieval and Modern Greek Studies, School of Philology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (October 2004). The conference was dedicated to Psycharis, commemorating the 150th anniversary of his birth and the 75th anniversary of his death. The 40 presentations included in this volume cover the numerous and often conflicting aspects of Psycharis’ personality: a Greek of diaspora whose native language was not Greek, but who acknowledged the priority of the common language of the Greek people and encouraged its written representation. As a professor at Sorbonne, he attempted to formulate and strictly observe certain rules regarding the phonology, morphology and the syntax of Demotic, himself a man of letters, a knowledgeable scholar of French literature, in which he also aspired to establish himself as a novelist. He lived the spirit of positivism of the early 20th century and he actively participated in French political life. A tireless correspondent, who judges, advises and argues both in public and in private. But above all, an intellectual, who links the issue of national progress to that of language.